Waiting For A Star To Fall
by the sweet escape
Summary: Namine moves into Twilight Town to discover a year of changes, whether they're for the best or for the worst. summary sucks, please give it a chance! many pairings T for language.
1. Girl In The Big City

**Chapter One: Girl In The Big City**

Namine leaned her head against the window and watched the skyscrapers and tall structures blur away. She and her older brother, Cloud, were moving into the metropolis known as Twilight Town, where the skies were always painted in lemony yellows and fiery oranges. The reason why the two were moving out of their home in Hollow Bastion was because Cloud's friends offered the them a place to live in after their place burnt down. Namine didn't mind living with them, they were nice people who she thought of as older siblings.

After her parents died in a car crash, Cloud took responsibility of her. It was almost a year ago since the car crash and because Cloud just turned eighteen he was able to keep custody of her. Namine was thankful for that, she couldn't imagine being separated from her brother. He wasn't just her older brother, he was her best friend too.

"Are we almost there?" Namine asked. She had been sitting in the car for five hours now and her leg was falling asleep.

"Yeah, in fact here we are." He made a sharp right turn, causing other cars to honk at him, and stopped in front of a beige colored apartment building. "And it only took us seven hours to get here." He grinned.

Namine rolled her eyes, "It would have taken us just four hours if we traveled by plane."

Cloud responded by saying, "It's called _saving money_." He stepped out of the car and headed towards the back to remove the luggage. He pulled out his cell and tossed it to her, "Call Aerith and tell her were here."

Namine nearly dropped it and frowned. He knew that she had horrible catching skills, that's why no one in her old school wanted her on their team when they played touch football or softball. She thumbed through Cloud's contacts, noticing that he hadn't deleted their mom and dad's number. She lingered on the numbers for a moment and then went back to searching for Aerith's.

She was about to press 'call' when she heard a shriek. "Guys! They're here!" Namine looked up to see a long haired brunette, known as Tifa, screaming out the window. A boy with silky brown hair with a scar running across his nose stepped in and shoved her out of the way. "You're going to get our neighbors angry again!" Leon hissed. He turned back to face the two and grinned, "It's room 200C. Glad too see you guys again. I thought you'd be stuck in Hollow Bastion forever!"

Namine waved politely and Cloud grinned like crazy. This was the first time in a long time that Cloud had smiled like that. He was truly happy, which made Namine happy as well.

The two stepped into the room and were greeted by Aerith, Leon and Tifa. "Namine you've grown!" Tifa exclaimed. "How old are you now?"

"Sixteen." Namine replied. She took a seat on the couch next to Aerith and Cloud, while Leon was ordering pizza.

Tifa grinned at Cloud, "You better look out for her. She's _that _age and she's pretty too. Guys'll come breaking down doors just to talk to her!"

"Namine doesn't like boys." Cloud said before Namine could say anything. "Until she's twenty three she's not getting a boyfriend!"

Namine's eyes widened. "Cloud! You're acting like..." She was about to say _You're acting like dad!_ but she knew better than that and said " An old man!" Namine wasn't very good with boys, but that didn't mean that she was in that "boys are gross" stage still.

"He's just looking out for you." Aerith smiled. "He's being a good brother."

"Pshh...he's being a hypocrite. Why can she date at twenty three and you got to date at fifteen?" Tifa questioned.

Cloud's face turned beet red and he ignored the question, "I'm going to help Leon get the Pizza's." He muttered. The three girls giggled after him, knowing that Tifa had proven a point.

As soon as the two boys left the building, Tifa snapped her attention back to Namine. "How would you like to meet a cute boy?" She wiggled her brows.

Aerith looked at her friend disapprovingly, "Cloud would not like that!"

"She'll be the 40 year old virgin if she doesn't learn how get guys!" Tifa exclaimed. She turned back to Namine, who was blushing. "So how bout it? Feel like meeting him?"

She did want to see if he was cute or not, but what if he was cute? She would end up making a fool out of herself if she tried talking to him! "I-I shouldn't." She replied.

By now she should have known that Tifa Lockhart did **not **take no for an answer. Within the next few seconds, Namine found herself being dragged out of the apartment loft and out the door by the surprisingly strong Tifa. Aerith trailed behind her trying to pry her grip from Namine's slender wrist. She mouthed a "sorry" realizing that they had already reached their destination.

Tifa knocked on the door two times before a boy with silver hair that stopped a little past his throat. He had sea green eyes and was munching on a donut. The boy finished chewing before he spoke, "Did you need something?"

"No, we just wanted you to show Namine around town! She's new here and she's the same age as you are!" Before Riku could say anything else, Tifa pushed Namine forward and disappeared down the hall with Aerith. Namine blushed and looked away from his eyes before she found herself getting lost in them.

The boy smiled and closed the door behind him, "Hey Namine, I'm Riku. Since were the same age does that mean that you'll be going to Twilight High?"

Namine nodded shyly. He chuckled, "You don't have to be shy around me. Besides, It'll be fun with you around and we'll probably see a lot of each other since we live in the same apartment and we go to the same school. Besides,." He had a point, she might as well just get used to being around him. She tried to ease herself a little but found it impossible when he took her by the hand. "Here, I'll show you my favorite places!"

**&&&&&&&&&&**

Namine stepped into a building known as _Pop's Shop._ It was run by a man named Cid Highwind, who had a daughter that attended Twilight High. Cid was really friendly and even asked if Namine and Riku wanted to come to his house for dinner. "My mom's cooking Steak, I don't want to miss that." Riku replied.

Namine thought of some excuse besides the fact that she was still new to the place, "Umm...I'm having Pizza." Cid raised a brow at her and laughed heartily. "We don't order pizza regularly." Namine lied.

Cid nodded, "Okay then. Stop anytime you need anything repaired!" He called after them.

"Nice, isn't he?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, is everyone in town nice?" Namine replied.

Riku shrugged his shoulders. "Most of them. It's like anywhere else, you've got the good and the bad. After all, you can't expect all rainbows and butterflies." He had a point, Namine thought.

"It's getting late, you wanna go home?" He asked, looking at his wrist watch.

Namine didn't want to go, she wanted to see more of the city but he was right, it was dark out already. Besides, Cloud was probably wondering where she was. Either that, or too busy lecturing Tifa and Aerith. Tifa for introducing his little sister to a boy and Aerith for not trying hard enough to stop it. "Yeah, I guess." She shrugged her shoulders.

She wondered what Cloud was going to say to her when she got back home. She hoped that he would over react and ask her questions like "Did you have sex with him?" or "Did he try to touch you?" Namine knew he meant well but he worried too much for her. She wasn't a kid anymore, after all.

"I was gonna show you to some of my friends but they're probably eating dinner or something." He said, as they neared the corner. "But Roxas, a friend of mine, lives in this building too. I'll introduce you to him." Riku smiled. "He's a good guy, you'll like him."

"You sure about that?" Namine smiled.

"Positive. He's kinda like me. You like me right?" Riku grinned.

Namine blushed and nodded. She liked him, maybe a little more than she should.

Riku opened the door and began jogging up the stairs. Namine had to stop and take a breath at the end of the second staircase. Riku was halfway up the third floor, he stopped to look at the blond girl and grinned, "You look like you're dying!"

Namine half-smiled. She felt like her legs felt wobbly from not getting enough exercise, "What do you do, run all day?"

Riku ran back to meet her, "Sort of. I play Soccer. Me and Roxas have been practicing all Summer to get on the team." Namine nodded in reply and began walking up the stairs. "Do you play any sport?"

"You think I could play a sport? Look at me, I can barely run up the staircases and I'll look awkward playing a sport." She replied. "Besides, I'm a total clutz."

"Really? You should see Demyx. Now _he's_ a clutz!" He laughed. It was a nice laugh, it wasn't too hard that it sounded like a hyena's laugh but it wasn't too soft either that it sounded like a girl's laugh. In fact, he looked nice all together. Namine found herself blushing, luckily he just thought that it was from running up the stairs. "And I don't think you look awkward. You look nice." She blushed even harder and had to turn away from him.

"Your friends seem really colorful." Namine said, when he told her about all the schemes his friends pulled last year. They had finally reached the top of the stairs and were now making their way to Roxas' room. "There's never a dull day for you, I'm guessing?" She grinned.

"Nope. Just stick with us and you'll never be bored." Riku smiled. "Here's his place." He announced. "Roxas! Roxas! It's Riku, open up!" There was no response so he rang the buzzer. There was still no answer and Riku sighed, "He's not here. Well there's tomorrow right? You can meet him at school."

Namine gulped. That was right, school started tomorrow for her and Riku. Riku noticed how nervous she suddenly became and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Easy there, Don't get a heart attack!" He joked. "It'll be fine. Tomorrow's my first day too. Besides, you'll be fine I'll show you to my friends."

She stared at his hand and nodded. She felt her heart beat slightly faster when he smiled back at her. "Um..I..I gotta go eat dinner now. My brother's probably worried about me."

"Brother? What about your parents?" Riku asked while stepping into the elevator. _Why did't we use this in the first place?_ Namine wondered.

"They died in a car accident." Namine replied, looking away slightly.

Riku bit his lower lip, "I'm sorry."

"You didn't know." Namine shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, At least I've got my brother and his friends. You know, Aerith, Tifa, and Leon."

Riku nodded. The door slid open and the two padded down the hall, side by side. It was silent, making Namine nervous. _say something. say something. say something!_ "Do you have a girlfriend?" Namine realized what she had just said and blushed. Why did she say that!?

Riku was silent at first and then smiled. "Nope. What about you?"

Namine was relieved by his answer and replied with a shake of her head. She stopped in front of her room and looked back at Riku, "Nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too. I'll walk you to school?" He said, getting ready to leave.

Namine smiled and nodded. Before her fist could make contact with the wooden entrance the door swung open, revealing an angry Cloud. He yanked her inside and slammed the door shut behind him. "Where were you!?" He demanded.

"With a friend." Namine replied carefully.

"What gender?" Cloud asked.

"Male."

"How old?"

"Same age."

"What room?"

Namine raised a brow at him, "Why do you want to know that?"

"So I can kill him if he lays a hand on you!" Cloud exclaimed. Just in time, Leon stepped into the room to intervene.

"Knock it off, Cloud. She's not gonna do anything stupid. Namine's an _angel, _right Namine?" He grinned. Namine nodded her head and mentally thanked Leon for getting Cloud off of her back.

The spiky haired blond let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Sorry. I over reacted again, didn't I?"

"Yup." Namine replied. "You need to stop worrying. You'll get worry lines by the time you reach twenty years old." She smiled.

Tifa stepped into the room saying, "Worry lines..eww!" She had with her a bottle of soda. "So now that our little Namine is back, let's eat! I'm starving!"

**&&&&&&&&&&**

That night, Namine couldn't get herself to close her eyes for more than five seconds. For some reason, she couldn't get Riku's smile out of her head and the sound of his laughter ringing in her ears. Namine sighed, she couldn't wait to see him tomorrow again. It was true that she had only known him for two hours but in those two hours, he had stolen her heart.

* * *

**chapter one is done! i hope you guys liked it, don't worry she'll meet roxas in the next chapter! anyway review if you want!**


	2. What An Interesting Day

Chapter Two: What an Interesting Day

Namine woke up to the sound of Tifa singing in the shower horribly. She looked at the clock beside her and groaned, it was 7:15 and she still needed to take a shower and get her stuff ready. After five minutes of just laying lifelessly in bed, she got up and walked towards the other bathroom. She took a twenty minute shower, brushed her teeth and then dried off.

Today she wore a yellow shirt and her favorite pair of blue jeans with brown sandals. She looked at her reflection in the mirror to see a petite girl with frosty blue eyes and medium length blond hair staring back at her. Namine debated on whether she should curl it or try to do something different with her hair, but figured that it was best just to leave it as it was. She didn't have enough time to style it and she wasn't sure if she would come off as trying to hard to Riku.

She looked at the clock on her wall and decided to squeeze in time for breakfast. Usually she skipped out on it, but because today was the first day of school she figured it would be smart to get some food in her stomach.

"You're lucky you're still in High School." Leon said, when she ascended down the stairs. "You don't get have to sit through two hours of boring classes."

Namine smiled at the brunette, "Think of it this way. You're now past the high school drama, right?"

"You got a point." Leon replied. "There's still some leftover pizza in the fridge if you want some." He informed her.

"Nah, that's okay. I'll go with a bowl of cereal." Namine replied.

"Careful, Tifa will fight you for the first drop of milk." Leon warned her.

Namine quirked a brow, "Why's that?" She began filling her bowl with Cheerios and then opened the fridge to get the milk.

"They say that the first drop of milk is supposed to be magic, according to Tifa and Aerith." Leon answered.

Magic? Namine wasn't quite sure whether or not she believed in magic or not but it couldn't hurt to try, could it? Who knows, maybe this "magic" could bring her something new and exciting this year. "In that case, I better beat her to it." She said, opening the milk carton and poured it into the bowl. As if on cue, Tifa came running down.

Apparently, she was about to have a bowl of cereal. "You got the first drop of milk!?" Tifa exclaimed.

"I need it for the first day of school!" Namine replied.

"I need it to get a good grade on my Calculus Test!" Tifa said.

Aerith stepped into the room and rolled her eyes. "C'mon Tif, Namine could use the first drop. You always hog it anyway."

Tifa shrugged, "Yeah, I guess so." She sat down next to the blond and dumped some cereal onto her bowl. "Oh that reminds me, how did it go with Riku?"

Namine blushed slightly at the sound of his name. "Um...good."

"Just good?" Tifa raised a brow. "You two didn't _click_?"

"He's going to walk me to school today.." Namine said. Tifa smiled widely at her, making Namine wonder what was going on inside her head.

"That's great! Pretty soon you two will be going out!" She declared. Namine blushed, _going out?_ How could she just make that assumption? Either way, she sort of liked the idea of her and Riku being a couple.

"Shh! Cloud might hear." Leon grinned. Tifa rolled her eyes and ignored him, she continued to tell Namine about the importance of experimenting with guys. Before Tifa could go further on why it was important, the door bell rang.

Namine sprang up from her seat and hurried to open the door. "Hey Riku." She said shyly. He was wearing a navy hoodie with dark washed jeans and black and yellow sneakers with a black back pack slung over his right shoulder.

"Hey Namine," He smiled. "You ready yet?" Riku asked.

The blond held up a finger, indicating that it would only be moment. She quickly ran back to her room to get her bag, she needed to get out of here before Cloud could talk to Riku. If he got a chance to talk to him Namine was pretty sure that Riku would run off either scared or weirded out.

"Okay, let's get out of here!" Namine said quickly, shutting the door after her.

"Someone's excited to get to school." Riku grinned.

"Not really." Namine muttered. She quickly remembered Roxas and turned to ask, "Doesn't Roxas live in the same apartment? Isn't he going to walk with us?"

"He was _supposed _to. He woke up early and left before I could tell him," Riku replied. "You'll get to meet him later."

**&&&**

The first day of school was always the hardest for Namine. Especially this one since she was in a whole new school. She had Riku and he said that he would show her to his friends but what if they didn't like her? What if they thought she was weird?

Riku looked over at the blond and sighed, "Are you still worrying over school? I thought I told you that everything was going to be okay?"

Namine blushed, "I know, I know. But what happens if everyone thinks I'm weird?" Everyone in her old school did.

"They won't. I don't, and didn't you hear me talking about my friends? They're weird, you're completely normal." Riku assured her. "Now put on that pretty smile of yours cause were here."

Namine looked up to see a red bricked building with thousands of students flooding in. "How are we gonna get in?" She wondered. There were so many people trying to get in, it didn't seem like there were enough rooms for the students.

Riku chuckled. "It's always like this in the morning. You might as well get used to it." He took her by the hand and started making his way to the entrance. Namine's cheeks turned a bright pink color as he did this.

They were almost inside when someone shouted, "Hey Riku! Guys, look Riku's got a girl friend!" Namine blushed even harder and turned to see three boys. One with chocolate brown spiky hair, a raven haired one with a camera, and a taller boy with a beanie cap and a scar running down his nose.

"You assholes, where were you the whole Summer?" Riku grinned. He walked to them, with Namine still in tow.

The boy with the scar shrugged, "Visiting my dad in Traverse Town. Who's the girl?"

"This," Riku pulled Namine closer towards the guys, "Is Namine. She lives in my apartment and she's in our grade."

The three boys looked her up and down making Namine feel a little self-conscious. Finally the boy with spiky hair smiled and introduced himself as Sora. "That's Seifer, he thinks he's some kind of gangsta and that's Pence he's just a-"

"Fatass." Seifer finished for him. Pence was about to say something when Sora quickly held a hand in front of his mouth.

"Don't scare her away like the last girl!" Sora hissed. Pence sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, mumbling angrily. Riku whispered to Namine, informing her that Seifer and Pence were always fighting and that she would get used to it sooner or later.

Seifer continued grinning and turned back to Namine and Riku. "So where'd you come from? Destiny Islands?"

"Good guess Einstein, does she look tan enough to live in Destiny Islands?" Pence snickered. Seifer shot him a look but Sora stepped in to prevent anything else from happening. Pence turned back Namine, "Let me guess, Radiant Garden?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Hollow Bastian actually."

"Isn't it always cold there? Like, don't you not get any sun at all?" Seifer asked.

"Someone's been doing his homework." Pence muttered loudly enough for him to hear.

"Say anything else and I'll punch you so hard your mom will feel it!" Seifer hissed.

"And how's that gonna work?" Pence grinned.

Seifer lunged at Pence, putting him into a chokehold. "Guys!" Sora said. "Guys stop! You know what? Forget it." He said, letting out a sigh.

Namine watched the two boys fighting and wondered whether she should do something about it. "You see what I mean?" Riku said.

"Shouldn't we do something? Pence's turning purple." Namine replied, worrying about the raven haired boy.

"Nah," Sora grinned. "They fight a lot but they'll never do anything stupid like kill each other."

That was a relief for Namine. As soon as the two heard this, Seifer let go of Pence and started fixing his cap. "So you want me to show you around school?" Sora asked Namine.

Namine wanted Riku to be her guide, but it couldn't hurt to meet someone new. Besides, Sora was just too cute to turn down! He had a child like charm to him that made Namine just want to hug him. "Sure!" She replied.

Namine took off with the brunette, leaving Riku with the two other boys. "Looks like he gets the girl again." Seifer snickered.

Riku shot him a look, "Shut up. He's got a girlfriend remember, so Namine's all mine.

**&&&**

Namine wandered around the halls with Sora giving a tour of the school. She stared at the different people who were all too busy conversing with their old friends to notice that they had a new girl in their presence. Then again, they were _all _new, weren't they? Every year brought changes, whether it was a new haircut or the people you hung out with. Sometimes changes made people become a different person, sort of like what happened with Cloud after their parents had died.

It wasn't that Namine didn't care that her parents died, of course she did. She too had changed, but not as dramatically as Cloud. Cloud had become very overprotective over her, almost as if he thought that if he let her out of his sight for a moment she would get run over by a car or something. The old Cloud was a carefree and easy going one. He let Namine do anything she wanted as long as she came home before five or as long as it didn't involve boys. Not that she ever did anything with boys.

"So, you think you can manage this year?" Sora grinned at her.

"Hm? Oh yeah!" After Sora had shown her the Theater room she had stopped paying attention to the tour. Namine looked at Sora and smiled, he seemed like a nice guy. She felt comfortable enough to ask him almost anything, which was odd. Usually it took her awhile to open up but there was something about his reassuring, child like smile. She made a mental note to herself reminding her that if she ever needed someone to talk to, she could talk to him.

Sora looked at the clock on the wall and let out a sigh. "The bell's about to ring, you should probably get to the office to get your schedule and stuff. See you around?"

Namine nodded and was about to leave, when she suddenly remembered that she didn't know where the office was. "Which way again?" She asked sheepishly.

"It's at the end of this hall." Sora chuckled and then left. Namine nodded and then started down the hallway again. _'Well, this isn't so bad'_ she thought to herself. '_Maybe this year won't be so bad after all?'_ of course, she couldn't be so sure about that yet.

While she was walking down the hall, she couldn't help but think that someone was following her. She kept looking back once in awhile, to make sure that no one _was_ following her. But then again, why would anyone follow her? Namine was usually the girl everyone ignored, not the girl people had their eyes on half the time.

The halls were almost empty but she could still feel someone trailing after her. Every time she looked, no one was there. _'You're just paranoid.'_ she assured herself. Though what would she be so paranoid about? She shook her head and began walking a little faster. This time she heard footsteps trailing after her.

Namine started getting scared. _What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?_ She made a sharp right turn and hid behind a locker, hoping to lose whoever was following her. She waited for two seconds and then a brown haired girl appeared with another brunette in tow.

"Damn! We lost her!" The short haired girl exclaimed.

"I told you, we shouldn't have been following her in the first place!" The other one said.

"We had to! How else would we know if she was cool enough to hang out with?" She replied.

"Um..we could've talked to her?" The girl responded.

"Pshh...observing a person is the best way to analyze a person." The short haired one said, flicking her hand.

"Selphie, that's so stupid. Besides what did you get from watching her?"The other one asked.

"By the way she was walking, she's a shy and reserved girl. Also I could tell that she's not so excited for the day to begin since she was walking so slow _and_ she likes things simple, I could tell by her clothes. Her style ain't bad too." Selphie said.

Namine began to blush as she heard them talking. The things coming out Selphie's mouth were surprisingly true! She wondered when they would leave so she could finally start the day. Besides, didn't class start in three minutes?

"Okay, so is she cool enough?" The girl asked.

Selphie shrugged, "Yeah, I'd say so. She's shy but she's got way better fashion sense than you or Fuu so yeah, she's definitely cool!"

"Even if she wasn't cool, I'd be her friend. It's not like were considered cool." The brunette said.

Selphie looked at her feet and then back up at her friend. "Still, we can't let the bitch get her." She opened her mouth to say more but quickly turned around when she heard a loud banging noise.

_'Crap! I've been discovered!' _While she was trying to sneak away, she banged her knee against the locker when she turned to leave. The two girls just staired at her, while she looked like a complete idiot just smiling at them. "Um..Hi?" She said.

"Hi!" Selphie replied. She walked closer to Namine, with the other girl following behind. "I'm Selphie and that's Olette. You run fast, are you going to sign up for track?"

"Me? No way. I can't run for my life." Namine said truthfully. "I'm Namine, it's nice to meet you guys!"

"Nice to meet you too! I hope you'll be in our class." Olette smiled.

"Oh and stay away from Xion. She's the devil's spawn." Selphie added. Olette looked at her, "What?" Selphie asked.

"She used to be our friend too, you know?" Olette frowned. Namine figured that _the bitch_ must be Xion.

"Keyword: used to be." Selphie replied.

"You mean, keyWORDS?" Olette corrected her.

Selphie frowned at the girl, "I'm beautiful, I can't be both."

Namine giggled at this. "What? It's true!" Selphie exclaimed.

She opened her mouth to protest but Olette cut in. "Just agree with her on this, she'll read to you _the girl guide_. Trust me, it's not worth it!"

"The Girl Guide?" Namine repeated.

"Something she made up." Olette replied. She looked at her watch and then groaned. "Shit, we have to go. You better get going too. Sorry for holding you up!" She ran in the other direction with Selphie pleading for her to slow down.

Namine smiled, today was proving to be a rather interesting day. First some story about magic first drops, then meeting interesting characters, and then meeting her stalkers who could be her friends.

**&&&**

She had managed to wind up in Chemistry class first period. Great, this was her worst subject. Namine was seated all the way in the back with a girl named Fuu. She had silver hair and wore a turquoise sweatshirt that read _Radiant University_.

Their teacher was a man named Vexen, who had impossibly long blond hair and a thin face. She figured that he wasn't one of those teachers that you should mess with, since the class was dead silent as he droned on and on about the importance of safety. Though it looked like he could care less about what happened to his students.

As soon as Vexen left the room to talk to the office about something, Fuu turned to Namine and introduced herself to her. "Hi, I'm Fuu."

"I'm Namine. I think I heard of you, Selphie said something about you." She said.

"What did she say?" Fuu said, the corner of lips forming into a smile.

"Um...that you were really cool." Namine lied, not knowing whether fashion mattered to the girl or not.

"Pfft. The girl must be on crack if she said that." Fuu snorted.

"Okay, she said that you had horrible fashion sense." Namine replied.

Fuu smiled even wider, "Now that's the Selphie I know. Oh, how did you meet her." She didn't give Namine enough time to answer when she suddenly slapped her hand against her forehead. "Don't tell me she stalked you! She did, didn't she?"

"Um...yeah. But she's really nice!" Namine quickly added. "She and Olette."

Fuu's eyes widened. "Selphie I can understand, but Olette? Whatever, they're nice people just don't let their weirdness scare you off." She said with a smile.

"Well, they seem like fun." Namine answered. They really did, and for once she didn't feel like she was the _weird _one.

Class had ended and everyone scrambled to get to homeroom. "Who's homeroom are you in?" Fuu asked.

"Xaldin's." Namine replied.

"He's easy to deal with. He doesn't do anything so you're lucky you don't have some cranky old guy." Fuu smiled.

"Like Vexen?" Namine grinned.

Fuu looked away quickly and began humming nervously. _Crap_. Namine looked behind her to see a rather offended Vexen staring down at her. "Um..I didn't mean you. I meant a d-different Vexen." She began but quickly stopped.

"If there's one thing that I detest more than dimwitted students, it's liars. Now get to homeroom Ms. Strife!" Namine didn't even wait for him finish his sentence before she began running down the stairs. So she was pretty sure that Vexen did not like her, she figured that it was best not to get on his nerves for the day. Better yet, the rest of the year.

**&&&**

The day was going well. Almost too well. Everyone was being nice to her, which was a change from her old school where everyone looked down on her for being too quiet and too reserved. Here, everyone was curious about her and actually wanted to get to know her. Almost everyone invited her to have lunch with them, but she had already made plans to eat lunch with a girl named Kairi, who was friends with Fuu, Selphie and Olette. She also happened to be Sora's girlfriend, which meant that they were pretty close to Sora's friends. _Which _meant she would be getting even closer to Riku.

The day was going more than well, it was_ perfect!_ She was leaving fourth period class when she stumbled upon two boys getting into a fight. In a second, after the darker haired boy pushed the blond haired one, a crowd gathered around the two. The blond haired boy punched the other boy on the nose and quickly got him on the floor, the two wrestled for awhile before the darker haired one sat on the blond's chest and began pounding his fist onto the boy's face.

Namine couldn't watch. She hated violence. But she couldn't just leave them alone either. She rushed up to the two as the dark haired boy was kicking the blond boy in the ribs. Namine shoved the boy off of him, "Stop it!" She reprimanded.

The boy just looked at her as if she was crazy. Apparently no one stopped a fight in this school. Ever. The boy shook his head and muttered something unintelligible before leaving. The crowd began to part once he left until it was just Namien and the other boy standing there. She turned to see how he was doing and smiled. "I couldn't just let you guys kill each other." She said, holding out a hand for him to take.

He had spiky blond hair like Sora's, only it was more messy and he had cerulean blue eyes. He looked at the hand and pushed it away, "I didn't need your help."

Namine frowned, what was with the attitude? "Really? Cause from my view it looked like you did."

"Well I didn't _want _it." He snapped.

Namine opened his mouth to snap back at him, but she was interrupted by a chilly and familiar voice. "Strife and Hikari! Detention!" Vexen shouted.

"Wh-what!? Why?" Namine demanded.

"For fighting." Vexen replied.

Roxas frowned, "I didn't hit her! I was fighting with-"

"With Mr. Takeshi, I know, I know. He has detention too." Vexen replied.

"What about me!? I didn't do anything! I just stopped them from going at each other." Namine said.

"That's it. You're not supposed to get into the fight, you're supposed to get a teacher to break it up." Vexen left before Namine could protest. She was convinced that he was getting back at her from her remark at the end of first period.

She sighed and turned to the boy, "Thanks a lot. If I didn't know that you were some jerk, I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to help you...um...name please?"

"Roxas." The boy replied.

"I wouldn't have helped you Roxas." Namine's eyes widened. "Roxas! What you can't be Roxas, Riku said you were nice!"

The boy sighed. "You must be Namine then. Well here's a thought, you're not as nice as Riku said you were either."

"He talked about me?" Namine asked, ignoring the rest of the statement.

Roxas rolled his eyes. _Another girl that's crazy over him_."Whatever, I'm leaving."

Namine watched as Roxas' back receded down the hall. "Hey wait! You didn't answer my question!" She called after him. He looked back and just smirked at her. "Stupid boy." She muttered to herself and then started going down the other staircase leading to the cafeteria.

What was even worse than having to have met the jerk, was that she would be living in the same apartment as him. Also, she had detention with him on her first day. Some day it turned out to be, she thought. Then again, it was better than any day she had last year. Who knows, maybe it was the milk or maybe it was just her but one thing was for sure, when she got done explaining to Cloud why she detained on the first day he was definitely going to kill her for saying something like that about her teacher. And more importantly, trying to get close to a boy.

* * *

**so that's it for the second chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it =) review if you want!**


	3. Life Is Like A Movie

Chapter Three: Life Is Like A Movie

As expected, the lunch room was crowded with students. Namine figured that it must've been a race to find spots and if lunch was anything like her old school, they would have seats that determined their status.

She held on tightly to her brown lunch bag that contained a crustless peanut butter sandwich and a water bottle inside as she maneuvered through the sea of students. Namine scanned the room, looking for Kairi and the other girls. She finally spotted them seated all the way in the corner, just two rows away from the garbage can.

Kairi spotted Namine and waved her over. Namine quickly made her way over to them, apologizing every once in awhile for bumping into other students. She sat down next to Olette, who smiled widely at her. Namine managed to give her a small hello and then turned to greet everyone else.

"So how's Twilight Town so far?" Kairi asked, spearing a noodle with her fork. The first thing that Namine noticed about Kairi was her medium length red hair and sky blue eyes. The second thing she noticed was how everyone seemed to like her, but also how much people seemed to talk about her. Mostly about who she hung out with and who she was dating.

"Well....the clocktower's really pretty. I can't really say, I've only been here for two days." Namine replied. "But it is a lot better than Hollow Bastion." She added quickly.

Selphie nodded, "That's understandable but the bigger question is, how do you like the guys here so far?"

Namine blushed at the question. She debated on whether or not she should tell them about Riku. After all, she wasn't sure if she could fully trust them yet, although they did seem like really nice people. "Um...well.." Then she remembered Roxas. "Well there's Roxas-" She began.

"A total cutie right?" Selphie waggled her eyebrows.

"HIM? Cute!? No way!" Namine exclaimed. "I was going to say that he was a total jerk!"

Selphie's gave her a long stare and then laughed. "Roxas? A jerk? No way, you're lying! He's so nice!"

Namine rolled her eyes. "Riku says so too. Honestly, I think he's got issues. He snapped at me for helping him out."

"Riku huh? On a scale from 1 to 10, how do you rank him?" Selphie asked, totally disregarding anything else she's said after Riku's name was mentioned.

The blond girl blushed furiously. "Uh...um....5?" She would've said 10 if she wasn't so shy about it. She didn't want to seem foolish liking a guy who was obviously out of her league.

"You're not serious? That boy is a 10! Even Fuu thinks so and trust me, she doesn't look at guys." Selphie said.

"Yes I do. I'm just not boy crazy like you." Fuu replied while munching on her Doritos.

"Seifer doesn't count." Selphie replied.

"Why not?" Olette asked, dabbing a napkin over her lip. "He's a guy, isn't he?"

"He's a brute. But apparently, Fuu likes brutes." Selphie grinned at her silver haired friend, who rolled her eyes in return.

"We're just friends." She muttered. It always irked her how her friends kept telling her that she liked Seifer more than a friend, which was not true. Sure she found him somewhat good looking and funny but there was no way that she and Seifer would ever become boyfriend and girlfriend. Could they? Fuu quickly pushed that thought away and began munching on her chips again. "Uh..So Namine, why don't you like Roxas?" She asked, eager to change the subject.

Namine put down her sandwhich and finished chewing before speaking again. "After class, I saw him getting into a fight with this other big kid -tall, muscular and tanned skin- and I thought he needed help so I broke up the fight. Apparently, you're not _supposed_ to stop fights." She explained.

"That's kinda how it goes." Kairi replied. "Don't you watch movies? No one ever stops fights, not the students anyway."

"Yeah, but life's not a movie." Namine frowned.

"In a way it is." Olette smiled. "In a movie, a director can decide what the movie's all about. He can make choices and-"

A boy with messy blond hair dropped his tray onto the table, interrupting the brunette. "And blah blah blah. She's going on and on about movies and directors again, isn't she? Figures, she's in film."

"Oh it's Hayner." Selphie rolled her eyes at him. Fuu nodded in acknowledgment, Kairi smiled politely, and Olette beamed up at him. Namine wasn't sure what to do, so she just waved at him.

Hayner noticed the unfamiliar blond and gave her a toothy grin, "You must be the new girl, Namine. I heard about you from Riku and the guys."

Kairi turned to Namine, "I didn't know you knew Riku! Why didn't you say so earlier? That would've saved us the trouble of having to introduce you to him and the guys!"

Namine blushed, "I didn't know you were close to Riku. I just thought that you were only close to Sora." She said lamely.

"No duh! Her boyfriend's Sora and he and Riku are like best friends. Of course we'd be _aquatinted_ to that group of boys." Selphie flicked her hand out in a dramatic motion. She said this as if everyone knew that, making Namine blush slightly.

Hayner looked at her and couldn't help but think how cute she was. "So It's nice meeting you. You want to hang out later after school? We could go to the mall or anywhere you want to go." He offered.

"Oh, um..I wish I could but I have detention." Namine replied.

Hayner's eyes widened, along with the other girls. "So you're like a bad girl or something?"

Namine shook her head furiously, causing her blond hair to whip around her face in all directions. "NO! Earlier today, I sort of said something about Vexen that I shouldn't have. When I broke up a fight between Roxas and some other guy, Vexen found out and gave me detention for breaking it up."

Fuu chuckled, remembering the incident. "That's stupid. I'm guessing that's payback for that comment?"

Namine nodded. "I bet he's never going to let it go, is he?" The group shook their heads. "Great, I have detention on the first day. My brother's going to kill me."

"Don't worry, I won't let him kill you." Namine looked up to see Riku grinning at her. She blushed and had to quickly look away. He greeted the other girls who all smiled back at him.

"Hi Riku." Namine said shyly.

"So what's this about you getting detention? I heard that you're spending it with Vexen, Rai, and Roxas?" Riku asked, he took a seat next to Olette while Hayner sat next to Fuu.

Hearing Roxas' name made Namine want to punch something. "Vexen hates me. Roxas was being an idiot and got into a fight." She explained. "Oh, and I thought you said Roxas was supposed to be nice." She murmured.

Riku chuckled, "You broke up the fight didn't you? Well, Roxas has a little too much pride in himself. He's got issues, but so does everyone right?"

Namine shrugged. "I don't like guys with big egos."

"Then apparently you don't like cute guys." Selphie sang.

_'Would you stop calling him cute?'_ She felt like saying. Instead she just shrugged her shoulders. "Well, if you think he's so cute,why don't you date him? " She dared to ask.

Kairi giggled and answered, "Cause she's in love with some senior named Tidus!"

Selphie smacked Kairi on the arm and blushed. "I am not in love with him! I just happen to think that he is a very charming young man and that he is very cute. Besides, he's got a girl friend." She added grimly.

Hayner rolled his eyes while helping himself to some of Fuu's food. "Why not Pence? He's a nice guy _and_ he actually likes you." He smiled. "Think of it this way, you won't have to chase after him like the other guys."

Selphie threw a crouton at him and frowned. "Pence is so not my type. Even if he were the last boy on earth, I would never date him."

_"_You mean again?" Fuu smirked.

The brunette glared at her and was about to throw a crouton at her, but she had run out of them already. "I was young and naive!"

"Pence?" Namine repeated. "He seems like a nice guy." She noted.

"He is. But he can be a freak at times. He's in love with his camera but Selphie's his number one love." Hayner said with a grin.

Riku laughed along with him. "Aww, c'mon Selph. He's not that bad."

She opened her mouth to answer but two fiery red heads, making a commotion interrupted her. The taller and older looking red head threw the younger boy towards the table where the group was sitting at and said, "Here Riku. Mind watching over him?"

"You're his brother, why don't you take care of him?" Riku replied, making room for the boy to sit down.

"Shh! Not so loud!" He hissed. "Just watch over him for fifteen more minutes!"

Riku sighed but agreed. "Okay Axel. But he's your brother. Next time, you take care of him." The red head nodded and turned to leave but Riku called him again. "Oh have you met Namine? She's new here and she lives in my building."

Axel whipped around and looked at the pale blond sitting beside Olette and studdied her for a moment. "Dude, she looks exactly like-" He began but Riku quickly shut him up. "Only less annoying and mouthy right?" Riku just continued to glare at him. Axel turned his attention to Namine, who was blushing. "I'm Axel, it's good to see a non annoying girl for once." He grinned. "The kid over there, that's my brother, Lea." He said in a hushed tone.

"This is Lea!?" Hayner bursted out. "But Lea's a girl's name!"

Lea glared at him. He had the same features as his older brother, only he didn't seem to have the same edge Axel did. "Well what kind of name is Hayner?" he shot back.

"A manly name!" Hayner retorted.

"Calm down," Olette frowned. "He's a freshmen, don't pick on him."

"Isn't bullying the lower graders the high light of Junior year?" He said with a smile. Olette just looked away and said nothing. For a moment, Namine thought she saw a blush on Olette's cheek.

"S-stop smiling at me like that." She reprimanded.

"Why? Am I making you nervous?" Hayner asked.

Axel smacked him upside the head, "Knock it off. You're being annoying. No wonder you don't get girls." He muttered, walking away.

Hayner rubbed at the back of his head and muttered something unintelligible. "So Namine... maybe we can hang out tomorrow. If you don't get detention, that is?" He said as he got up to leave.

Namine smiled, "I'd like that."

Riku decided to leave as well and waved goodbye to the other girls. As soon as he left, Selphie turned to give Namine a cheshire cat smile. "Look's like someone scored a date with a certain somebody!"

"D-date? No! It's not a date...is it?" She asked, her cheeks glowing red. _Damn! Stop blushing!_ She told herself. She blamed her pale as paper skin for making any other color on her cheeks so visible.

"Of course it is. You got a date, maybe not with the cutest guy on campus but it's a date." Selphie said.

Namine nodded. She looked at Olette, remembering how she had reacted when Hayner had been smiling at her. "Is it okay with you if I hang out with him?"

"Hm?" Olette said, completely caught off guard. "Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?"

Namine opened her mouth to explain why, but she figured it was best not to. Besides, maybe she got it all wrong. "Nothing." She concluded with a smile.

**&&&**

Namine had been dreading the end of the day. She would have to sit in Vexen's room for an hour with Roxas and Rai, the boy he fought with. She dragged her feet into the Chemistry lab and took a seat all the way in the back. Rai sat in the front, picking at something in his shoes while Roxas was seated in the back, on the other side of the room. He looked at her for a second when she entered the room and then went back to staring into space.

Vexen was doing some work on his laptop and looked up once in awhile to check on them. The room was dead quiet, except for the sound of Vexen hammering on the keyboards and Roxas rocking his chair back and forth. _So this is what detention's like._ She thought to herself. This was the first time that Namine had ever gotten into trouble, normally the teachers praised her for being so quiet and never talking back.

She let out a sigh and leaned back in her seat. She wondered what one was supposed to do in detention, sit around and do nothing? Vexen suddenly got up from his seat. "Okay I'll be gone for just a moment. I trust that you three won't be doing anything stupid?" Rai nodded in response, Roxas shrugged and Namine just mouthed a yes in response. The teacher gave the three a long hard stare before leaving the room.

For five minutes the room was silent. Then Roxas got up from his seat and locked the door. "What the hell are you doing?" Rai demanded.

"What does it look like? I locked the teacher out." Was his reply.

"Why? Were going to get in trouble!" Rai hissed.

Roxas rolled his eyes at the boy, "Were already in trouble. What does it matter?" He asked. Roxas turned to look at Namine, "You don't care, right?"

Namine ignored him and turned to look out the window. She heard him sigh and say, "Okay so _maybe _I was being a jerk but you didn't have to butt in. You don't even know me."

"Would you just sit there and watch while two people fought? I was doing you a favor you know, I was trying not to get you guys in trouble." She replied.

"Again, I didn't need your help." Roxas muttered, sitting in Vexen's chair.

Rai raised a brow and walked over to where he was. "Now what are you doing?"

"Going through his files." Roxas replied. He began going through some of Vexen's files when he saw one labeled _Erotica._ "That's gross!" He exclaimed.

"That guys a freak!" Rai said in agreement. He watched as Roxas copy the file's content and open up his school email account and then send it to his other account. "Blackmail?"

Roxas nodded. "I could use this if I really need him to pull up my grade."

As the two boys went on ravaging through his computer files, Namine just stared at them in shock. Didn't they know how immoral it was to find something that dirty to blackmail a teacher? She shook her head in disappointment and got up from her seat. She stalked over to the two boys and slammed the laptop shut, causing the two to glare at her. "What gives?" Rai said.

Namine frowned and answered by saying, "You know what. It's wrong what you two are doing."

Roxas just smirked at her. "You know what your problem is, Namine? You're afraid to get into trouble. You're afraid about what other people think."

Namine opened her mouth to defend herself, but he cut her off. "Don't even argue with me. You know I'm right." He leaned back against the leather seat and folded his hands behind his head.

Rai noticing the tension between the two finally decided to leave the conversation while he could, and sat back down in his seat. Roxas just continued to smirk at her, making Namine want to punch him. "Can you stop looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" Roxas smiled.

"Like that" Namine snapped. "It's really annoying. A-and you're not right. I'm not afraid of what people think of me." _Am I?_ She shook the thought from her head and continued to glare at him.

"Whatever you say, blondie." Roxas grinned.

Namine sighed and retreated back to her seat. She thought a little bit more about what he said to her. She was scared of trouble, but she wasn't scared of what people thought of her. She knew what they thought about her already, why would she be scared of something she already knew?

Another five minutes passed and Roxas had gotten bored. Rai was already dozing off and Namine was just staring out the window with a troubled expression on her face. He figured it was about what he had said earlier. He let out a sigh and pulled up a chair next to her, "Don't strain yourself." He grinned.

The blond snapped back to reality and then turned to face him. She gave him a hard stare, not saying anything. "Sorry." Roxas finally said.

"About what?" Namine asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

He shrugged, "About everything?" He said it more like a question rather than a definite answer.

Namine just shook her head. "You're not sorry."

Roxas raised a brow at her, "Yes I am. I just told you, didn't I?" She didn't say anything back, instead she turned to look out the window again, causing Roxas to roll his eyes at her. "What will it take for you to believe that I am sorry? Or for us to be cool with each other?"

"For me to believe that you are sorry, just say it like a statement. Not a question. But for us to be cool, nothing." She answered.

Roxas snorted, "C'mon. I don't want you to hate me."

"Too late." Namine said. In all her life, she had never met anyone that could make her this angry. Even the driver who had caused her parent's death couldn't make her feel this angry. Maybe it was because no one had ever confronted her about her true insecurities.

He blinked and then took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Fine. I'll see you around then." He stood up and walked over to the window and slid it open.

"What are you doing?" Namine questioned. "Detention's not over yet."

"I'm getting out of this place. I'm not spending another thirty minutes in here." Roxas replied. He clung onto the pipe and then slid down from it. Namine shook her head and closed the window after him. Another reason why she didn't like him, he didn't think about the consequences. Nothing irked her more than someone who didn't think before they acted. Then again, maybe it was because she was the type of person who always thought about her actions, whether it was deciding between pizza or a salad or deciding to do her homework or not.

**&&&**

Namine cringed the whole time Cloud had been giving her a lecture on getting detention. She was seated on the couch, while Cloud paced back and forth telling her that their parents didn't raise her to become a delinquent. Not that she had even done such a juvenile act, or ever will. "How could you say that about your teacher? Regardless of how grouchy he is. Our parents raised us better than that! And it's the first day! What will people think?"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Namine said softly.

"It better not. Now go do your homework. After hearing that you got detention, I nearly had a heart attack." He sighed, sitting beside her. Namine rolled her eyes and got up from her seat.

Tifa who had been listening to his whole schpiel, stepped out from the corner and sat down next to him. "Take it easy, Cloud. You're going to wind up like an old man by the time you're twenty one if you keep acting like this." She said. "Where's the old, carefree Cloud? We miss him."

"We?" Cloud repeated.

"Me, Leon, Aerith and Namine." Tifa replied.

He sighed and rested his head against the palm of his hand. "I can't just be Namine's brother now, I have to be her parent too."

Tifa smiled assuringly and patted his back. "You can still be a father and brother to her if you ease up. She's not a little girl, she can fend for herself. Don't go overboard over everything she does."

"I'll try." Cloud said with a grim smile.

Lying in bed, thinking more about what Olette had said earlier at lunch, Namine finally got it. Life was somewhat like a movie. You're the director of the movie and you make the choices. She realized that she should be taking control of her life for once. It was time for her to become a new person. It was time for her to transform into a butterfly. Maybe Roxas was right. No, he _was_ right. She was afraid of what people thought of her and she needed to stop. Somehow, some way, she was going to become a new Namine by the end of this year.

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**sucky chapter, i know. anyway, thanks for the review musiclover2399! oh btw, in case you haven't noticed, i made the characters really really ooc! like cloud.**


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